Monday, 5 June 2017

History from the album cover 2

History from the album cover 2

Deformatory - A Prelude to...

The album cover of this Canadian band shows us a gloomy corridor. Very much like a psychiatric hospital. There is some truth in this statement. It is the corridor of the Eastern State Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by one of the brightest American representatives of neoclassical architecture - John Haviland.

In this prison, the "Pennsylvania system" was used for the first time. This system meant the separate maintenance of prisoners. In general, this prison, opened on October 25, 1829, became a model for all the prisons built in the future. In other words - do you remember the prison in the movie "Shawshank's Escape"? Each prisoner had his own camera. This system was opposed to the "New York system", which claimed that the prisoners had to live and work together. For example, Sing-Sing prison operated in this system.

You noticed that the doors of the cameras are very small. This is to ensure that the prisoner has fewer opportunities to attack the security when leaving the camera. In prison there were a lot of criminals, there were even famous criminals. For example - Al Capone. There were animals in prison! Governor of Pennsylvania Gifford Pinchot in 1924 sent to prison a dog named Pep for the fact that she killed his wife's favorite cat. The dog was given a life sentence in prison. The new nickname for the dog was "The Cat-Murdering Dog". She even had her number - C2559. The dog became a kind of mascot of the prison. Look at this spiteful face of a killer maniac.

In 1965, the prison became a National Historical Monument, and in 1971 it was closed. It was covered with dust until 1994, when it was opened for excursions. Now it is a museum, but visitors are not allowed everywhere. Many places remain untouched and littered with garbage and trash.

If one of you was in this building, or he has an interesting story about this prison, then do not hesitate and write in the comments. Or you found an error in the text.